<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>there's no sacrifice that i won't make by theriveroflight</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25647598">there's no sacrifice that i won't make</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/theriveroflight/pseuds/theriveroflight'>theriveroflight</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>somewhere between the sacred silence and sleep [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Dark, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Drug Use, Emotionally Repressed, Gen, Government, Hawkmoth Defeat, Heavy Angst, Sad Ending, Unresolved Emotional Tension</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 12:27:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,923</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25647598</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/theriveroflight/pseuds/theriveroflight</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>An election goes slightly differently, and everything changes.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir &amp; Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, No Romantic Relationship(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>somewhere between the sacred silence and sleep [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1859347</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>there's no sacrifice that i won't make</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>It's easy to make Miraculous Ladybug into a dystopia. You'll see why in the story. Yes, this is canon-verse. Yes, this is also a dystopian AU.</p>
<p>This story is my 50th work, and will also put me over the threshold of 150k aggregate words! Really happy.</p>
<p>Warnings: bad authority figures, characters make bad decisions, emotion repressing fantasy drugs, a little bit of violence, heavy angst with no resolution for now</p>
<p>Title from "Hero" by Jeff Williams &amp; Caleb Hyles.</p>
<p>Special thanks to MiniNoire and Khanofallorcs for beta reading.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Normally, mayoral elections don't carry much weight. André Bourgeois has been mayor for a </span>
  <em>
    <span>long </span>
  </em>
  <span>time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But with the rise of a superterrorist, there's a new issue on the metaphorical table.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>People are...disappointed...with André's handling of the situation with Hawk Moth thus far.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Royalist fencing instructor hasn’t even </span>
  <em>
    <span>spoken </span>
  </em>
  <span>on the subject</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This will</span>
  <em>
    <span> not</span>
  </em>
  <span> suffice.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>"So," Chat begins, "if you </span>
  <em>
    <span>were </span>
  </em>
  <span>old enough to vote, who would you be voting for?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Probably the new candidate. She's promising to give us help."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's always been you and me, milady." Chat goes to comfort her. She turns away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I don't know about you, but I'm...just a teenager. Not an exact age, but I'm between thirteen and sixteen. I know it's normal to feel lost at this time, but...so much in my life was changed by becoming Ladybug. If someone is offering to make our lives easier...I don't know, I think we should take it."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm in the same range. And so much of my civilian life was changed around the same time I became Chat Noir. We're a team, and I'm reluctant to expand it beyond the two of us. I don't want our voices to be drowned out by regular people that don't get it. Not like you or me do."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What if she's the one who gave the Miraculous to us, Chat? What if? I don't want to assume, but we don't know how they ended up with us. We don't know. And that is something I have wanted to know since I got it. I want to know why I was chosen."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I can't imagine </span>
  <em>
    <span>anyone </span>
  </em>
  <span>else, Ladybug. No one else could have done the same things you do every time."</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>A third candidate enters the race, promising to work alongside Ladybug and Chat Noir and become more proactive in the fight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The two superheroes publicly endorse her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(Marinette thinks that if André isn’t the mayor, then Chloé isn't the mayor’s daughter, and she won’t have as much power over the school.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(Adrien hopes Chloé will forgive him.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Of course, with the endorsement of the two superheroes, how could she not win?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>André does his best to blackmail her into submission, but her record is clean. There is nothing to exploit.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’s practically a blank slate. But a blank slate that promises to defeat Hawk Moth.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So she wins the election.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>"I'm a little worried," Chat confesses. "I don't know what will happen."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ladybug mostly brushes it off. "I think it'll be okay. We can deal with whatever the fallout will be."</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Three people could have been akumatized:</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>1) Chloé, mad about losing her power as the mayor's daughter.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>2) André, mad about losing the election.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>3) D'Argencourt, also mad about losing the election.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>D'Argencourt ends up being the one targeted.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>"Pound it!" they say in unison, a post-battle tradition.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fallout has come, and it could have been much worse.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(But the aftershocks still aren't over, a cascade of divergence and differences.)</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>In the first three months beyond the election, the amount of akumatizations rapidly decreases. Akuma victims still aren’t punished. Everyone knows that the one to blame is </span>
  <em>
    <span>always </span>
  </em>
  <span>Hawk Moth, never anyone else.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If the attacks are caused by overwhelming negative emotions, then the solution is to prevent negative emotions.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What the city government comes up with is simple: a Committee of Happiness, designed to promote positivity. They also establish a helpline for anyone experiencing negative emotions to call and talk through it, because having someone to talk through it with and find solutions for can help a lot when dealing with anger, fear, or sadness.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ladybug and Chat Noir appear on posters throughout the city, with slogans of happiness and the number of the helpline underneath.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(And buried deep in confidential files, a new drug is being developed.)</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>"I'm glad she won," Ladybug says, "because our lives have become both easier and harder. They're helping us. The number of attacks has decreased."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Still aren't getting paid, though." Ladybug laughs at that. "And they're rarer, but they're harder. So maybe it's an even trade."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"The other part is that it's easier to be proactive now and actually be looking to defeat him. Not his creations. Find Hawk Moth and take him down. I mean, we're teenagers, how much time do we actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>have </span>
  </em>
  <span>to act? With them helping us…"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"This can be over sooner. Meowch, my lady, you want to get rid of me so soon?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You're going to be the only thing I miss," she answers. "I mean, leaping through the rooftops is nice, but I miss not being late to everything all the time. You're…you help support me, Chat. I'll miss that."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You won't </span>
  <em>
    <span>need </span>
  </em>
  <span>my support if you aren't Ladybug."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I still want it," she confesses, looking away. "I still want it. Does that make me selfish?"</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Tourism was hit hard at first, and for a city that derives much of its economy from it, a superterrorist is not a good thing. The economy suffers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The statue is meant to bring in more. And, of course, the lack of attacks makes it easy to say that Paris is doing better, but the person behind Hawk Moth has not been arrested. And that is still the top priority.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>However, a villain that attacks from the shadows is difficult to track. All the fights start in the same arrondissement, but they roam throughout most of the city. In order to gather more data, they analyze the butterflies.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They find that the butterflies are a </span>
  <em>
    <span>very</span>
  </em>
  <span> specific and very rare type. The police start to investigate purchase histories - who buys them, who sells them, where are they going. All shipments of butterflies to France are inspected for these butterflies.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There are still attacks. They may be infrequent, but they last </span>
  <em>
    <span>longer </span>
  </em>
  <span>now. Hawk Moth chooses his targets more intelligently, because each attack could be the last.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And the children, why the children are the most frequently exploited -- the ones too young to listen to proper reason, the ones too young to have a phone to call for support. It's horrifying. It makes the people of Paris - especially the parents - angrier at Hawk Moth. And while that anger won't get them akumatized, it will make them be more active parents, teaching their children techniques for dealing with their emotions - and to not listen to the butterfly man that promises them to make everything better.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>"The butterflies were shipped to Gabriel Agreste."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Gabriel Agreste?" Chat says. "That can't be right. Let me have a look."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They pass him the paper. He reads it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It is," he whispers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Chat, are you okay?" she asks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He nods, sliding the papers back. "I'll be fine."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(It doesn't sound even remotely convincing -- not to Ladybug.)</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Meanwhile, Ladybug and Chat Noir are asked to perform a task.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Attract an akuma on purpose, so they can talk to Hawk Moth, and get their Miraculous taken on purpose. A team will be behind them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The two look between them. To double cross Hawk Moth is a solution to their problem. And they can end it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They tell the mayor and her team that they will think about it.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>"Do you think this is a good idea?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I don't know. But we have to try."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You want this to be over."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I don't see the point in dragging it out. If we can, why don't we?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah. Okay."</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>The drug is ready for human testing, faster than expected.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And the fruits of their butterfly investigation have ripened.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All signs point to Gabriel Agreste. (Or Adrien, perhaps, but no one wants to condemn a child, and while Adrien has not been akumatized, he has been spotted as himself at the time of an akuma's creation, when he would theoretically have to be transformed.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chat Noir, coincidentally (or perhaps not) volunteers to be the first to test the numbing drug.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I cannot let my emotions get the best of me during this fight," he says. "I can't. Not if we want to win."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ladybug, therefore, has to be the one akumatized.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She lets herself feel hopeless, feel disoriented, cry. It is far easier than she thought to succumb to the emotions she’s had to repress for so long.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Hawk Moth, I am Ladybug," she tells him. "I wish to surrender my Miraculous. Chat Noir is next to me. We have both agreed to surrender."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Come alone. Just the two of you. I will direct you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"We know who you are, Hawk Moth. Or at least where you get your butterflies shipped to. I can assume that you are at that address?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I am. If you bring a team of other superheroes or officers, you will face my wrath. Just you and Chat Noir. I am not interested in any other Miraculous."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You have my word, Hawk Moth."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What is your word worth, Ladybug?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm a superhero," she says, with a conviction she doesn’t feel, considering that she’s about to betray him and thus break her word. "My word is certainly worth more than yours."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(But neither are truly worth all that much.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You know who I am if you know where I reside. You must know about my son. Swear on his life, and I will trust you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I cannot bring--" Ladybug </span>
  <em>
    <span>will not </span>
  </em>
  <span>bring any civilians into this.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(Especially not Adrien.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Do it, Ladybug." Chat's gaze is hard as he avoids looking at her. "Do it."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"On your son's life," she says, "we will be alone."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Good." The butterfly flies out of her yo-yo, white as snow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Why did you tell me to do it, Chat?" she asks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I…know Adrien very well. He would have wanted us to." Chat sounds almost robotic, but Ladybug knows that it is because of the drugs numbing his emotions. "I cannot elaborate further than that. It would give away my identity.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Are you really leaving us?" one team member asks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No." Ladybug's gaze hardened. "I'm not. But stay outside of the gates unless something goes wrong. We have comms. I'll keep mine active and transmitting. Just make sure that none of you make a sound."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes, Ladybug," the team leader says.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>When Hawk Moth reveals his wife in the coffin, she resists gasping. Chat Noir looks stoic as ever.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I need to bring her back. For me. And my son," he says, almost as an afterthought.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"...with all due respect, have you considered therapy?" Ladybug asks. "We can set you up with a therapist through the programs--"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I don't want government sanctioned therapy! Don't you see it? They're making you complacent. They're making you emotionless. They're making you soldiers. Both of you. You’re kids. You shouldn’t be fighting this."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe so, but we were chosen--” Ladybug’s words are drowned out by Chat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Maybe you should have thought before you attacked the city, Father. Maybe you should have thought of the consequences. And the consequences that are still to come."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Adrien?!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ladybug is also shocked by the revelation. But it makes sense - the reason why he was so easy to give up Adrien's life. Because he is Adrien and he knew he could fight back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I've moved on, for the most part. I still felt grief, but I didn't let it consume me. I know it hasn't been very long. I also know that to move on is not a sin. You must accept that she is gone."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That's what numbing drugs do to you! I can bring her back, Adrien. I can bring her back for us."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Every action," Adrien - Chat Noir - declares, "has an equal and opposite reaction."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Your wish has consequences. Another will be subject to a similar fate if you make this wish. You may not even </span>
  <em>
    <span>exist </span>
  </em>
  <span>to see your wish come true," Ladybug explains, taking up the mantle.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I do not </span>
  <em>
    <span>care </span>
  </em>
  <span>about the consequences. I will not listen to a couple of teenagers under the control of a government that doesn't want anyone to feel."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's your fault that we have become this way," Ladybug snaps. "You attack negative emotions. We needed to avoid giving you a foothold in the population. We needed to keep everyone from experiencing negative emotions because you're the one exploiting them."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That's the only way I can reach my goal! Neither of you will ever allow me to."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"For good reason." Chat narrows his eyes - the closest to an emotional response since he volunteered for the testing. "I know that both of us have been impulsive in the past, but my mind is no longer clouded. I do not regret anything."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You do not regret because you do not </span>
  <em>
    <span>feel, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Adrien."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I still do," Ladybug says. "I am not taking the same drugs. But what you do is still wrong, Hawk Moth."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I do not regret-" Chat bonks him with the staff. It distracts Hawk Moth enough to let Ladybug take his Miraculous.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Let's go, Ladybug. We can let the police take him." Chat scoffs, but it feels devoid of anything.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This is not the Adrien that she fell for.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Not so fast."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A Peacock wielder.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ladybug stows the Butterfly Miraculous inside her yo-yo.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chat brandishes his staff. "One on one. You and me. To the taking of a Miraculous. No powers allowed - just the fan and the baton. You and I are more similar now than ever before, Nathalie."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I accept," the villain answers. He must have...assumed that she was Nathalie.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chat makes the first move, vicious in the attack - but not angry. There is nothing of Chat Noir in the fight - no flair, just a clinical edge. It nauseatingly reminds Ladybug of someone else; who exactly, she doesn't know.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Peacock holder fights defensively.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chat looks over to her. She doesn’t know what he wants, doesn’t know the plan that should be transmitted in his expression. There’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>nothing. </span>
  </em>
  <span>So she flings her yo-yo to tie her up and he takes her Miraculous easily. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s over.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Successful retrieval,” he says into his comm, tossing the Peacock to Ladybug. She catches it, and pins it to her belt. “Ladybug, can you tie them up so we can haul them out and get them arrested?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nathalie stands up. “You broke your promise.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“I </span>
  </em>
  <span>never made a promise,” Chat points out, with a precision unaccompanied by the usual tone and color in his voice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ladybug just hauls Nathalie closer, and then she starts towards the elevator. Nathalie squirms in the bonds, but she just tugs the yo-yo tighter, trying to avoid feeling guilty.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They won, so why did it feel like a defeat to her?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A police car is parked outside the mansion. She releases Nathalie, but the officers force her into handcuffs and when she gets into the back of the police car Nathalie looks devastated.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Come with me,” Ladybug says. “M. Agreste is still down there, as well as my partner.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright.” They follow her, and she takes them down the secret elevator to find that Chat has detransformed. Adrien is beside the pod that holds his mother, looking at her </span>
  <em>
    <span>coffin </span>
  </em>
  <span>with a blank expression.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The officers haul Gabriel away. He comes more quietly than Nathalie, if only because he was hit on the head </span>
  <em>
    <span>hard.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I will take care of Adrien,” she tells a more hesitant officer. “Don’t worry about him.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ladybug.” He looks surprised, the first emotion she’s seen on him since it started. “What happens now?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We won,” she says, quietly, the opposite of triumphant. “And so we have to carry on. Write history. Get the Miraculous to whoever has the rest of them. Surrender our own. It’s over. We don’t have to do this anymore.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It is over. But what are we supposed to do with my mother? And who will legally take care of me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t have all the answers, Ch-Adrien.” Because it feels like she’s talking more to her partner than she is to someone she has a complicated history with. “We get a doctor for her. We figure out if she can be revived. We find your family, wherever they happen to be. If your mother can’t be revived, we hold a funeral for her. And we go on with life.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He nods. “You don’t have to reveal yourself now that I have…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s safe now,” she says. “We’re safe now.” She knows what he’s asking, but she doesn’t know why.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Spots off,” she says, closing her eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Marinette,” he says, “I’m sorry.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t know what you’re apologizing for,” she answers. “You don’t have to.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He picks up where the Peacock fell after she transformed back. “I’m turning this in to the government, and I think you should do the same with the Butterfly. I don’t know who gave us the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous, or why they made that choice, but we can’t waste our time finding that person.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She narrows her eyes. “Adrien, what are you </span>
  <em>
    <span>doing?”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t expect you to understand me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let the dust settle.” She places her hand over his. “Give both of us some time.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looks down at where her hand is over his. “If you want.”</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Ladybug and Chat Noir disappear for a couple weeks to the public.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amelie Graham de Vanily and her son Félix come to Paris after the news of Gabriel Agreste’s arrest comes out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Audrey Bourgeois comes out with a statement that she had no idea of his “emotional superterrorism” and “I thought he was overly ridiculous anyways.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Committee of Happiness doesn’t go away. Nor do all the posters.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>The Guardian of the Miraculous comes to </span>
  <em>
    <span>Marinette. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Not the mayor. Not Adrien. Not anyone who's searching for them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You have the Butterfly and Peacock, yes?" he whispers to her as he leads her to a...shop.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I have the Butterfly." She procures it from her purse and places it in his hand. "My partner has the Peacock."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Can you trust him?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She blinks. "You did."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I…am now uncertain if I should have," the Guardian confesses, then shakes his head. "No matter now. There is no changing what has happened."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I can get you the Peacock, but what happens to </span>
  <em>
    <span>our </span>
  </em>
  <span>Miraculous?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You must return them, Marinette. The box must remain complete."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She pauses to think. Why should she trust him? "I need proof. That you are the real Guardian."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Follow me." They go to the back room, where he takes a gramophone, presses in a series of buttons, and then it opens to reveal…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Another box.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he brings out the box, it opens up in tiers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All of the Miraculous.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She places the Butterfly in its spot. "Thank you, Marinette."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Adrien will want to see this too," she says firmly. "I will bring him with me. I can guarantee nothing besides that I trust him, and you should too."</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>"I turned it in," Adrien says nonchalantly when she asks what happened. "I don't want to deal with it anymore, there's something </span>
  <em>
    <span>wrong </span>
  </em>
  <span>with it -- there has to be a reason he said no when she…"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Okay. Then I'll go through the government and get it," she says firmly. "The Guardian said that we'd probably have to turn our Miraculous in, too."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I don't want to be Chat Noir anymore," he says. She's taken aback - Marinette was under the illusion that he had fun as Chat Noir.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"...are you still taking those drugs?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"The suppressants? Of course. I find them good for me. Aunt Amelie and Félix both agree. I'm better this way. Emotions are a barrier."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She knows why he's behaving this way. But she can't stop it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I don't agree. I liked you better when you had emotions, for whatever </span>
  <em>
    <span>my </span>
  </em>
  <span>opinion is worth. I'm just the girl you were in love with before. I'm just the girl who used to love you before."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She storms off, but as she does she hears Adrien sigh.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You just proved my point, Marinette…"</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>The official channels lead her to reclaiming it from the police. As Ladybug, she can go anywhere - and do anything - without being questioned. Especially in matters related to the Miraculous, including the Peacock she just reclaimed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She transforms back before going to find the Guardian again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Target is finding the Guardian. Doesn't know I'm on her tail. Over."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Chat Noir. On someone's tail. Over."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I do not understand the humor of that. Target looked over. She's onto us. Going silent. Over." Adrien shuts off his comm.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Marinette looks back and forth. "Chat Noir," she says. "Why are you following me?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Drop the pretenses," he spits, which is a more emotional reaction than he normally exhibits. "I know where you're going."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm bringing it where it belongs. We shouldn't talk about this in public. You can come with me if you want to know for sure."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Just to verify that you are telling the truth."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He pulls her into an alley. "Claws in."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They walk back out, after a few minutes pass. The walk to the Guardian is in complete silence, not the comfortable silence of two friends who know each other - but a prickly silence between people who don't understand what the other has become. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But they still walk side by side, matching steps.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Adrien keeps a blank face as they hand back the Peacock. When she takes off the earrings, Tikki comes out and hugs her with her tiny flipper-arms. As Adrien slides off the ring, Plagg has an unexpectedly devastated expression.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Kid, I hope you…"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm sorry, Plagg," Adrien says, faint and with the slightest hint of regret.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I hope you get off those drugs," Plagg finishes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You and no one else except Marinette. They all like me better this way. And being liked by my family is more important than being liked by one person and one alien. Especially since after the funeral I'm leaving."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Marinette feels </span>
  <em>
    <span>wrecked </span>
  </em>
  <span>by that, even if this isn't the Adrien she grew to love. Adrien...he doesn't want to come out of this.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Goodbye," Plagg says stiffly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They both carefully place their Miraculous in the box.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Reach inside yourself. You should feel a connection to the Miraculous inside you. When you cut that connection, the kwamis will be absorbed into the Miraculous. There are also words you can say to do it."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No," they both say in unison. Adrien disconnects himself with ease. Marinette takes longer to find it, and even longer to fully cut it off.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>The funeral for Emilie is just Adrien, Félix, and Amelie. The three of them mourn in silence as her coffin is lowered until the ground.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Emilie Agreste</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Wife, Mother, Sister</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Flying free forever.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Nino throws Adrien a farewell party. Adrien doesn't show up. But Marinette manages to find him anyways. The mansion is being deconstructed - all the important things are out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Guardian is gone. And she finds Adrien in front of the old storefront, a ‘for sale’ sign in the window.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"We didn't know him," Adrien says, "and yet he chose us."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He had faith in our kindness." She doesn't follow that with </span>
  <em>
    <span>so what happened to yours? </span>
  </em>
  <span>She knows the answer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I know Nino put in a lot of effort for that party, despite recent oddities in his behavior around me. Tell him that I apologize for not turning up. I must depart now."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I will." She leans in to press a kiss to his cheek, hoping that he will find his way back to the person he was. "Don't be a stranger."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I won't," he says, surprising her. "Goodbye."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Marinette watches him walk off.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>There will be a sequel where things get better. I promise. The<a href="https://discord.gg/wcQvjyg"> Miraculous Fanworks Discord server</a> will hold me to it - join us if you want snippets of the sequel, and more! We always welcome new members.</p>
<p>Follow me elsewhere online, if you want:<br/>alto-tenure - main Tumblr<br/>the-river-of-light - visual art Tumblr<br/>beunforgotten - writing Tumblr<br/>riverofliight - Twitter</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>